1. Field
The technological field relates to generation of timing signals in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Imaging systems generally include an image sensor which is capable of capturing an image. The signal from the sensor is typically processed in the analog domain, converted to a digital signal, and further processed in the digital domain. Processing the image in the digital domain allows the image to be analyzed, manipulated and enhanced, prior to storage, display, transmission, and/or further processing.
Imaging applications typically involve three chips. The individual chips generally include an image sensor, an analog front-end (AFE), and a digital application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The AFE conditions the analog signal received from the image sensor and performs the analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. The digital ASIC contains image-processing and timing-generation circuitry. Additional application-specific circuitry following the digital image-processing ASIC can depend upon whether the imaging system is a camera, scanner, copier, etc.
An electronic image sensor may generally be configured as a solid-state device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) or a CMOS device. Generally, an image sensor enables the use of optics and electronics in order to process images. Each component of an image sensor generally uses a timing signal to control its operation. Therefore, a timing generator may generally be provided to provide the various timing signals to the components of the image sensor.
A timing generator is generally configured to generate timing signals based on a reference clock. The generated timing signals are then sent to the various components of the image sensor. A timing generator in many conventional systems is configured as a hardware device capable of providing the timing signals which correspond to the specific image sensor or other specific component within the camera unit. For example, image sensors which have different timing signal requirements are each provided with a particular timing generator capable of providing the required timing signals. As a result, there is a need to provide a timing generator which can be reconfigured to meet the requirements of different imaging devices.
Imaging devices which are produced by different manufacturers may be configured to use different timing signals for operation. The imaging device may also be capable of providing images in different formats. Each format may use different timing signals during the operation of the imaging device. A timing generator which is capable of being adapted to provide the timing signals for the imaging devices produced by different manufacturers or for producing images in different formats is therefore desirable.
According to some conventional examples, a programmable timing generator may be provided in order to provide the various timing signals of an image sensor. Other conventional timing generators are based on generation of fixed vertical/horizontal timing signals. However, some conventional timing generators rely on the hardware architecture of the timing generator to generate the timing signals. As a result, if there are defects in the timing generator, these defects would be corrected by redesigning the timing generator chip (IC). As a result, conventional timing generators can suffer from increased production costs and non-recurring engineering costs.
Furthermore, according to conventional programmable timing generators, an engineer can spend a large amount of time and resources in order to understand and program the timing generator based on the particulars of the image sensor. In order to program the timing generator according to the conventional examples, a user should understand the hardware structure of the programmable timing generator in order to reprogram the timing generator code. Therefore, the development of a timing program can be time consuming.